News Release

Weather:
Yesterday the fires received between a quarter and a half inch of rain with light snowfall on the mountain peaks. Cold temperatures overnight dipped to near freezing temperatures. Today will start with some early morning clouds, followed by a mostly sunny afternoon. Temperature highs will range from 50-60 degrees in the Flathead Valley and 50-60 degrees at the Boundary Fire. Ridgetop winds will be at 10-15 mph out of the southwest to west, gusting to 20 mph. Relative humidity will dip into the mid 30’s. Cool, dry autumn weather will persist until our next chance of wetting rain on Thursday night or Friday.

Howe Ridge:
Yesterday, fireline personnel disassembled hose lays and removed water pumps from the Fish Creek Campground area. Today, crews will be removing structure protection wrap from a backcountry cabin west of the fire as well as monitoring fire behavior. Even with cooler and moister conditions, the fires will creep and smolder in heavy fuels, especially in areas more sheltered from the rain. Crews remain ready to reduce hazards and provide structure protection throughout the fire area if needed.

Boundary:
Yesterday, fire behavior and smoke were minimal due to fog and drizzle occurring over the Boundary fire. The assigned fire crew will be monitoring the east side of the fire and utilizing air resources to check fire spread east toward Waterton Lake if needed. Low fire activity is predicted today, mainly creeping and smoldering. Parks Canada and US Fire Managers continue to coordinate efforts and are in constant communication about the fire activity and response.

GENERAL FIRE INFORMATION
The majority of Glacier National Park is open. Open areas include Apgar, Two Medicine, St. Mary, Many Glacier and the North Fork. The Howe Ridge fire is burning in less than 1% of Glacier’s 1 million acres. The temporary closure area for public safety and fire suppression access is less than 5% of the park.

Evacuations:
Evacuation orders are in place for North Lake McDonald Road (private residences and the Lake McDonald Ranger Station), Lake McDonald Lodge area (all businesses, employees, and private residences), and private residences along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Closed campgrounds include Sprague Creek, Avalanche, and Fish Creek.

Closures:
The Waterton Lake Trail and the North Boundary Trail for will remain closed for fire activity, but all other trails and all backcountry camping sites in the Goat Haunt Area are now open.

Aircraft Assigned:
All aircraft are shared among the fires within Glacier National Park and the Flathead National Forest being managed by Mike Goicoechea’s Northern Rockies Type 1 Incident Management Team. Two helicopters (one Type 1, and one Type 3) are currently assigned to the incident.

A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is in place over the Howe Ridge. Drones can shut down critical fire operations, and launching, landing or operating drones is prohibited in Glacier National Park.